[NOTE. The following marks the continuation of the recovery & translation into English of the experimental modernist masterwork Protsesiye (Processions) by the great & all but forgotten Yiddish poet Mikhl Likht, who was a younger contemporary of Pound and Williams & in some ways the forerunner of Zukofsky & other “Objectivist” & projectivist poets. The ongoing effort by Resnikoff and Ross is to bring Likht’s complete poem into English & by doing so add a new dimension to the story of American poetry as well as that of Yiddish. Toward that end I plan to give it coverage & assistance as the project proceeds, and I invite those who may have missed them to look back at the installments of the work from Resnikoff, Ross & Merle Bachman already posted on Poems and Poetics, & for the recently published Resnikoff/Ross translation of Procession One, along with the Yiddish original, check the eleveneleven web site. (J.R.)]

Ancient stone with pale-white belly up waits patiently: the magic hatchet should come and even it out -- grasses -- envy-green at season’s onset -- asymmetrically bent flat skewers with sharpened points perforate the swollen earth -- a different time, a sickly yellowness attacks them -- their hopes waste away like thin dust-colored hairs ondull later skulls -- at times bad air stirs up the endless empty place around -- sand borrows wings from the zephyr -- a pair in the vortex [[3]] live it up just above the plain

Another stone.

Another stone.

Archipelagos of stones trade places -- never any deep-settling -- over the naked flanks of a mountain the mysterious peak lifts itself -- matter stays stoned -- petrified in great sadness -- the hatchet levels out the stones -- swelling that lets itself be hammered in remains a part of the house -- bellies that forget who is older get hacked off -- with Buddhist hearts they lie down with lowered hands before the foundation -- smoothproud timber (erstwhile free anarchic forest-scarecrows) -- the measure taken by sight -- lays down like a modest compromise under the cryptic feet on conquered earth -- glass looks two-sided -- in and out -- inside -- eyes squint in the soft fragrance of shadow-light -- see the utensils -- rugs-- floor -- table -- chairs -- the inviting resting-place -- outside the Lilliputian window panes shine -- observing presumptuously the round scarlet-red fire-ring -- reflects the grotesque in it -- deaf walls -- to the right -- to the left -- across -- gazing in their opaquesilence -- prick-up their ears in case a symbolic creature walks past with an open mouth and loses unconscious slander on the path -- recording it in their kinetic consciousness -- carrying it hidden in themselves until the day of judgment-- coolly-quiet the windows hold open the tired eyelids which constantly fall over them (strained from unbroken wakefulness) -- perhaps it will prove successful to notice whatever causes them to cheer up in their misanthropic non-sight -- the roof lies comfortably over the void of the attic -- waits in case the never-promised-to-anybody-by-anybody, which must come down from above, ever falls --checks with his steel frame the creativity that seethes violation in the pipes of the whole house

Another house.

Another house.

Daringly-agile like a snake, the clenched street coils rightward -- unsuccessfully -- a hateful parapet obstructs the way -- with a cascade of noise she sets out on her aeronautic trip over air-bridges leftward -- pummels herself through the crystal-clear prisms of air-- runs -- runs without stopping -- earlier just like a straightedge -- then somewhat bent into a crooked line -- down -- down -- the eyes closed -- all the energy concentrated in the chasing -- a wild abyss opens itself suddenly where snakes and scorpions amuse themselves with exotic dances -- keep jumping around – in no time slip in between them -- often in the middle of running takes a tremendous blow to the headliterally sparks fly: another street runs as far as the way – slowly comes to -- catches one’s breath -- girds the loins -- scratches itself with broken ribs on the other side -- feels anew the merry impulse leave itself in God’s hands on the long treacherous way -- adventurous courage stirs -- pushes itself on again in an intersection --

ABOUT POEMS AND POETICS: In this age of internet and blog the possibility opens of a free circulation of works (poems and poetics in the present instance) outside of any commercial or academic nexus. I will therefore be posting work of my own, both new & old, that may otherwise be difficult or impossible to access, and I will also, from time to time, post work by others who have been close to me, in the manner of a freewheeling on-line anthology or magazine. I take this to be in the tradition of autonomous publication by poets, going back to Blake and Whitman and Dickinson, among numerous others.

Technicians of the Sacred, August 2017Expanded Fiftieth Anniversary EditionUniversity of California Press

* The index below is organized chronoloigally, starting with a post from May 20, 2012, when Poems and Poetics first appeared in Jacket2. Earlier posts in the series, going back to 2008, may be found at Poems and Poetics.